Slidable outer jaw ratchet wrench with positionable handle



Sept. 3, 1957 T. STANG 2,304,794

SLIDABLE OUTER JAW RATCHET WRENCH WITH POSITIONABLE HANDLE Filed March 21, 1955.

United States Patent SLIDABLE OUTER JAW RATCHET WRENCH WITH PGSITIONABLE HANDLE Ted Stang, Rockford, 111., assignor, by mesne assignments, to The Tedd Company, Rockford, lit, a corporation of Illinois Application March 21, 1955, Serial No. 495,711

9 Claims. c1. 81-1773) This invention relates to wrenches and is more particularly concerned with improvements in the wrenches disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 330,069, filed January 7, 1953, which resulted in Patent No. 2,704,479, issued March 22, 1955.

As described in the aforesaid copending application, those wrenches have an improved handle portion to facilitate operating in close quarters or wherever the ordinary unimproved pipe wrench with non-adjustable handle cannot be used advantageously, and it is the principal object of my present invention to further improve said wrench in order that the handle, which is quickly adjustably connectible with the head through the medium of a ratchet with the handle disposed at any convenient or preferred angle relative to the head Within a range of nearly 180 of adjustment, may be easily locked securely in a desired position of adjustment, whereby to avoid the objection of having the handle become disconnected from the head upon each reversal in the direction of movement of the handle as the wrench takes a new hold on the work.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate a pipe wrench made in accordance with my invention embodying the new locking feature on the handle.

The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts in the two views.

Referring to the drawing, the reference numeral 6 designates the head of a pipe wrench having a fixed jaw 7 and an adjustable jaw 8, the latter having a threaded shank portion 9 slidable in spaced guides 10 and 11 provided on the back of the head between which an adjusting nut 12 threaded on the shank operates. A detent 13 has a rounded head slidable frictionally in an annular groove 14 provided in the nut 12 to hold the nut' releasably in adjusted position, a coiled compression spring 15 seated in a socket 16 serving to press the detent 13 into engagement with the nut for the purpose mentioned. The rear end portion of the head 6 is forked, as indicated at 17, and a cylindrical ratchet 18 is mounted in this forked end on a square pin 19 that is received closely in square holes 20 provided in the two halves of the fork 17, the pin 19 passing with a close fit through a square hole 21 provided therefor in the center of the ratchet 18. A springpressed ball detent 22 provided in one end portion of the pin 19 snaps into the inner end of a radial hole 23 provided in one half of the fork 17 to lock the pin 19 releasably in the assembled position. A drift pin may be entered in the hole 23 to depress the detent 22 when the pin 19 is to be removed, as when the ratchet 18 is to be turned through approximately 90 to present an unworn side to the toothed end 24 of the operating handle 25, after which the pin 19 can, of course, be inserted again to support the ratchet in its new setting. The ratchet 18 will be suitably hardened to reduce wear of its teeth to a minimum. The same is true of the toothed end of the handle. The handle 25 is pivoted on a pin 26 beice vided, slidable in a longitudinal groove 32 provided in the handle 25 for movement into and out of blocking re-' lationship to the pin 29 in slot 30, the latch 31 being shown in blocking position in Fig. 2 but being, of course, retractable to an out-of-the-way position in relation to pin 29. A knob 33, suitably knurled to facilitate finger manipulation of the latch into and out of its operative position, ,is pressed onto a projection 34 provided on the outer end of the latch. A spring-pressed ball detent 35 may be provided to engage in either of two depressions 36 and 37 provided in the side of the latch 31 in longitudinally spaced relation, whereby to lock the latch releasably in either extreme position.

' In operation, the handle 25 is disconnectible from the ratchet 18 by swinging it in a counterclockwise direction about the pin 26 as a center, as viewed in Fig. 2. Then the handle may be shifted through about 90 in either direction from the mid-position shown, the limits of adjustability for the handle being approximately on the line a-b shown in Fig. 2. To connect the handle 25 with the ratchet 18,.the handle is swung in a clockwise direction about the pin 26 as a center'to' engage the lug ing the wrench is distributed partly to the pins 26 and a 29 so that the ratchet 18 and tooth 24 assume only a portion of the load. Where the space in which the wrench is being used is limited, this improved wrench greatly facilitates the operation, because the handle can be adjusted to a position in which it can be operated most advantageously and because the handle can be shifted to take a new hold on the ratchet after the nut or pipe, or other part to be turned, has been turned a given amount so as to allow easy operation again; The ratchet adjustment, in other words, enables more strokes to be made in less time and with less effort expended. Under normal operating conditions, the present wrench, due to'the ratchet adjustment of the handle, operates much more efficiently than a wrench with the conventional non-adjustable handle. The latch or slide 31 may be moved to operative position whenever the operator desires to lock the handle 25 in an adjusted position with respect to the head 6, and in that way there is avoided the disengagement of the tooth 24 from the ratchet 18 each time the wrench is shifted to take a new hold on the work. The latch or slide 31 may be easily engaged or disengaged, and the detent 35 gives the operator the assurance that once the latch or slide has been shifted to either extreme position it will remain there until shifted to the other extreme.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claims have been drawn to cover and with relation to 'which said handle is oscillatable independently of the pivotal connection for rigid connec-t tion of the handle to the ratchet for rotation of the ratchet with the handle or disconnection of said handle from the ratchet for pivotal adjustment of the handle with respect tothe ratchet, manually operable means for releasably locking said handle rigidly in: any adjusted: angularity relative to said ratchet, a wrench head having a fork in which the yoke is adapted to be entered, said fork and said ratchet element having registering polygonalshaped openings provided therein, and a pin of polygonalcross-section entered removably openings.

2. A wrench comprising ahandle, a. yoke carried thereby and having a ratchet element mounted therein withwhich said handle is pivotally connected: for adjustment to any selected position throughout an appreciable range and with relation to.which said handle is oscillatable independently of the pivotal connection vfor rigid connection of the handle to the, ratchet for rotation of the ratchet with the handle or disconnection of said handle from the ratchet for pivotal adjustment of the handle with respect to the ratchet, manually operable means for preventing oscillation of said handle relative to said yoke whereby to lock the handle rigidlyin adjusted position relative to said ratchet, a wrench head having a fork in which the yoke is adapted to be entered, said fork and said ratchet element having registering polygonal-shaped openings provided therein, and a pin ofpolygonahcrosssection entered removably in said registering openings.

' 3'- A wrench comprising a handle, a yoke carried thereby and having a ratchet elementmounted therein with which said handle is pivotally connected for adjustment to any selected position throughout an appreciable range and with relation to which said handle is oscillatable independently of the pivotal connection: for rigid connection of the handle to the ratchet for rotation of the ratchet with the handle or disconnection of said handle from the ratchet for pivotal adjustment of the handle with respect to the ratchet, manually operable means'for releasably locking said handle rigidly in any adjusted angularity relative to said ratchet, a wrench head having a fork in which the "yoke is adapted to be entered, said fork and said ratchet element having registering polygonalshaped openings provided therein, a pin of polygonalcross-section entered removably in said registering openings,'and detent means for releasably securing said pinagainst displacement. V

4. A wrench comprising a handle, ayokecarried thereby and having a ratchet element mounted therein with which said handle is pivotally connected for adjustment to any selected position throughout an appreciable rangeand with relation to which said handle is oscillatable independently of the pivotal connection for rigid connection of the handle to the ratchet for rotation of the ratchet with the handle or disconnection of said handle from the ratchet for pivotal adjustment of the handle with respect to the ratchet, manually operable means for preventing oscillation of said handle relative to said yoke in said registering,

removably in said registering openings, said ratchet wrench when in disassembled relation to said first-named wrench head being operable as a separate ratchet wrench, and detent means for releasably securing said pin against displacement.

7. In a ratchet wrench, a generally cylindrical toothed ratchet element, a fork oscillatable with respect to said toothed element, a handle pivoted in said fork for oscil-- lation with respect to said ratchet element and having a tooth for engagement in said ratchet element, said handle having an arcuate slot struck from the pivot of said handle as a center, a pin in said fork extending throughsaid slot to limit oscillation of the handle, and manually operable means for locking said handle releasably against oscillation while the tooth thereof is engaged With said ratchet element.

- 8. In a ratchet wrench, a generally cylindrical toothedratchet element, a fork oscillatable with respect to said toothed ratchet element, a handle pivoted in said fork for oscillation with respect to said ratchet element and having a tooth for engagement in said ratchet element, said handle having an arcuate slot struck from the pivot of said handle as a center, a pin in said fork extending through said slot to limit oscillation of the handle, and manually operable means for locking said handle releasably against oscillation while the tooth thereof is engaged with said ratchet element, said means comprising -a slide reciprocable in a guide on said handle transversely relative to said slot to and from a position caging the pin in one end of the slot.

9. In a ratchet wrench, a generally cylindrical toothed ratchet element, a fork oscillatable with respect to said toothed ratchet element, a handle pivoted in said fork for oscillation with respect to said ratchet element and. having a tooth for engagement in said ratchet element, said handle having an arcuate slot struck from the pivot of said handle as a center, a pin in said fork extending through said slot to limit oscillation of the handle, and manually operable means for locking said handle releasably against oscillation while the tooth thereof is engaged whereby to lock the handle rigidly in adjusted position 7' relative to said ratchet, a wrench head having a fork in which the yoke is adapted to be entered, said fork and said ratchet element having registering polygonal-shaped openings provided therein, a pin of polygonal-cross section entered removably insaid registering openings, and detent means for releasably securing said pin against displacement.

5; A combination wrench comprising a wrench head having a fork, a ratchet wrench comprising ahandle having a head end carrying a ratchet element operable by oscillation of the handle, manually operable means for locking'said handle releasably against oscillation and engaged with said ratchet element, said fork'and ratchet element having registering polygonal-shaped openings provided-therein, and a pin of polygonal-cross-section with said ratchet element, said means comprising a slide reciprocable in a guide on said handle transversely relative to said slot to and from a position caging the pin in one end of the slot, and detent means for releasably securing said slide in either of two extreme positions in retracted relation with respect to said slot or in an operative position disposed cross-wise thereof;

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Britain, Sept. 23, 1953 

